Photography by Tadashi Kono
Growing up as a kid, Kevin Busch always looked up to his Grandfather. You see, his Grandfather was a mechanic, fabricator and engine builder who had a passion for going fast. He used to build drag bikes in the 1950s and his JAP drag bike was one of his favourite builds, built and raced by him and few of his friends until 1960. ?After 1960 the bike was taken apart as they had all moved onto racing dragsters? says Kevin. ?Some of the bike was parted and was forgotten about and left in the back of the shop gathering dust for many years.?

So when his Grandfather passed away five years ago, Kevin decided it was time to finally resurrect the old drag bike. After going through his Grandfathers garage, he discovered the original rusty frame, two wheels, and the original BSA front forks that were in parts.
After doing some research using some priceless vintage photographs of the bike, Kevin was able to work out the engine that it was originally running. ?The original engine was a 1953 500cc JAP (John Alfred Prestwich) type 6 engine mounted into a mid-1950?s BSA frame that they cut and stretched and made into a hardtail along with a cut down BSA front end to get the bike low to the ground.?

Unfortunately, the original engine with the large alloy barrel were very rare, so had a hefty price tag when he discovered one for sale. He was lucky to discover a 500cc type 4B from the UK which looked and performed very similar to the original engine. ?I bought it...